


Flirting 101

by Warp5Complex_Archivist



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-11
Updated: 2006-03-11
Packaged: 2018-08-16 05:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8089303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warp5Complex_Archivist/pseuds/Warp5Complex_Archivist
Summary: (06/05/2003)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: Spoilers, 1.26-2.01 "Shockwave."  
  
Beta: Thanks again to PJ for being so kind to a novice.  


* * *

Mom always used to say I did everything the hard way. My brothers used to snigger and call me 'Hard-way Hoshi' which of course I hated. But, as so often happens, it turned out Mom was right.

I mean, look at me. I had the chance to stay at home, comfortable and unafraid, and learn all those new alien languages from reports and journal articles. After all, I get space sick, occasionally claustrophobic, and am terrified ofâ€”well, a lot of things. So what does a woman like me say when Starfleet comes knocking? Why, yes, where do I sign?

Hard-way Hoshi strikes again.

Still, I'm proud of what I've achieved this first year. I've learntâ€”how many new languages? I must check my logs but it's more than twenty. I've overcome space sickness. Oh, all right, I moved cabins, but at least I recognised I'd never overcome it otherwise. I've seen things that made me hysterical with terror; and yet I managed to do my job. I even played an essential part in getting Enterprise back from the Suliban, despite my claustrophobia. In fact, I'm pretty damn wonderful.

Except for one thing.

I didn't sign on looking for emotional entanglements. I've had enough of those end in disaster on earth. It's amazing how many men still don't want an obviously intelligent woman, isn't it? And a messy breakup on campus is bad enough; the thought of one on a starship was enough to firm my resolution. No  
romantic entanglements.

So of course, I fell in love. But did I do it the easy way? Of course not.

There he was. Handsome, charming, that glorious accent. A smile as big as his heart. And a body to die for ...Three quarters of the women on Enterprise follow his every move. He has a way of saying my name that should make me melt. But it didn't, did it. Blondes have never been my thing.

No, instead I have to fall for an enigmatic, quiet, difficult man. Well, at least he also has a charming accent. That's how I knew I was a goner. Trip had been calling me Hoshi for months, but the first time Malcolm said my name, I just slithered down into a whimpering Hoshi-shaped splodge on the floor. It really seemed to mean something coming from him. And in that accent ...oh, my. He could make Klingon sound enjoyable. Romantic, even. Maybe even sensual. Yes, Malcolm reading Klingon would definitely sound sensual.

But I'm getting sidetracked.

Anyway, so there I was. Ms Voluble madly in love with Mr Enigmatic. They say opposites attract.

But what did he feel about me? What did that man feel about anything? Who knows? Even when I turned up at his cabin door without my shirt (useless built in bras, I've asked Mom to get me some old fashioned ones) he didn't react. Well, not much. He looked as if something hideously embarrassing had turned up at his door. Maybe he was embarrassed, but how do you think I felt?

Okay, so secretly I hoped he'd take one look and be swept away with passion, a passion heightened by the danger of the moment. I had big plans for that neatly made Starfleet regulation bunk.

In my dreams. It's no wonder I felt exasperated. What can you do with a man like that?

Waiting in Trip's quarters with those two unconscious Suliban gave me so much time to think. Too much, really. The logical explanation for his reaction was simply that he was embarrassed. But me being me I couldn't settle for a simple explanation. I had to analyse, examine, dissect every nuance. It's my job to do  
exactly that with language and I'm good at it. After two depressing hours, though, I decided my talents didn't extend to analysing the facial expressions of Lieutenant Reed.

But if I was depressed then, imagine how I felt when he volunteered for that idiotically brave mission to get Daniel's time travel gadget. Stupid, stupid, stupid Hoshi. Why on earth didn't I fall for Trip? He's an engineer; he hardly ever gets hurt. Pregnant, yes; heatstroke, yes; concussed definitely. All right, so Trip gets damaged at lot. But surely that run of bad luck can't continue. And it's not Trip's job be heroic and volunteer to get beaten up. It is Malcolm's and I HATE IT. Oh, why don't I lust after Trip?

Simple. I just don't. I lust after thick dark hair and blue grey eyes and when those eyes get all worried over something I just want to ...

I'm rambling again, aren't I?

Anyway, the only thing that made the whole idiotically brave mission bearable was the realisation that I had to tell my own idiotically brave man how I felt. I envisaged so many ways, some passionate, some flirtatious, some romantic. And all my scenarios ended exactly the same: seeing Malcolm's face with the same polite blankness he had when I turned up asking for a shirt.

Maybe I won't try for the direct approach.

After careful consideration, I decided to flirt. Just a little. Just enough to give a hint. Only problem is when other girls at school were learning Flirting 101, I was studying. I had no idea what to do.

So I tried playing with my hair. I'd read somewhere that people did that when they were attracted to someone. And, yes! The other day in the situation room he noticed! I distinctly saw out of the corner of my eye that he followed the movement of my hand.

Just to make sure I did it again the next day. Again, he watched. And I'm sure I heard his breathing change, just a little. I tell you I walked out of that situation room floating on air.

I got more confident. Malcolm often sat with Travis and me at lunch. But one day I knew Travis was caught going over the latest star-charts with T'Pol. Sure enough, there was Malcolm on his own. I sat down, and after an initial hesitation we talked. Did I mention how much fun he is to talk to? Well read and observant and very witty and ...

So maybe I do gush just a little.

We often had lunch together after that. And apart from the pleasant shivers I got just from hearing his voice, it was fun. And I don't just mean his company was fun. Which, of course, it was. It was also the flirting thing. I mightn't know the finer nuances of flirting, but I did know that whenever I played with my ponytail Malcolm Reed got an odd look in his eye and his breathing definitely  
became erratic.

I've always performed best with lots of positive feedback. And boy, the feedback I was getting from Malcolm was positivelyâ€”well, positive. It was inspiringly positive. It was giddy making. So in a state of complete giddiness I started planning my next move: a subtle invitation to the next film night. Something along the lines of "I've heard it's really good: would you like to go with me?"

As I said, subtle. You can't be too obvious with a man like Malcolm.

Problem is, I forgot the next film night was fellas night. I know I shouldn't complainâ€”we girls had a great time at the last chick flick evening. But to wait another week to implement stage two! Unbearable.

Anyway, I know Malcolm went; Trip told me he and Malcolm were definitely going. And I don't know what happened to cause the change that was apparent the next morning. I hardly think a two-year-old film called Orion Slave Girls Go Crazy On Risa was likely to inspire a revelation. Well, not the kind of revelation I was hoping for, anyway. Despite Trip calling it a modern classic.

Maybe Malcolm and Trip had a heart-to-heart.

Oh, yeah, as if that's going to happen.

But this morning at breakfast Malcolm looked at me as if I was those new phase cannons he's always going on about. He looked at me, really looked hard. And what I saw in his eyesâ€”well, I've never had someone look at me like this at breakfast before. Yum, I want more!

Flirting 101. Who needs it? Not Hard-way Hoshi, that's for sure.


End file.
